NO CHANGE OF POLICY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 January 1940, Page 5

NO CHANGE OF POLICY

DEPARTING MINISTER’S ACHIEVEMENTS WORTHY OF UNGRUDGED RECOGNITION WORK GOING FORWARD SMOOTHLY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 10.10 a.m.) RUGBY. January 7. The wide changes and reforms carried out in the British Army during Mr Hore-Belisha’s tenure of office, and the accord between him and the Prime Minister, were evident in the letters which have passed between them, lead the Press to draw the inference that the change in the occupant of the office does not foreshadow a change of policy. Typical of British public opinion on this aspect is that of the “Sunday Times”: “No changes are intended in policy. It is not the least of his achievements, for which he deserves the ungrudged recognition and support of the Prime Minister —that the whole problem of Army expansion is going forward smoothly to a solution on universally agreed lines. The adoption of conscription, the methodical calling up of conscripts, the arrangements made for equipment and training on a vast scale —these measures, like the reforms to which we have already alluded, are settled gains of which no succeeding War Minister will deprive us.”

In his reply to Mr Hore-Belisha’s letter of resignation. Mr' Chamberlain wrote: “My dear Leslie, —It is with the greatest regret that I received your decision not to accept the office which I offered you in the course of the reconstruction of the Government which is in hand. At the same time I fully understand and respect the reasons you gave me. I would like now to pay my sincere tribute to your work at the War Office and to the important reforms you carried out. It is a great satisfaction to me that there is not now and never has been any difference between us on policy, particularly on the necessity for the prosecution of the war with the utmost determination to a successful issue. I would like also to thank you for the loyal support you have always given me and for those pleasant personal relations which characterised our association for so many years.” Mr Chamberlain replied to Lord Macmillan: “Let me say immediately how deeply I appreciate the public spirit which prompted your letter and which, indeed, you showed so conspicuously when I first asked you to undertake a new and extremely difficult task. lam grateful for the efforts you made to improve the organisation and effectiveness of the Ministry. You have gone far to remove the defects which perhaps were inevitable in setting up a new and complicated machine in the shortest possible time. I hope that upon the foundations you have laid it will now be possible to build up the Ministry till it fulfils all that is required of it. However, I am bound to recognise the importance of its being represented in the House of Commons. It may well prove that the task which remains wil prove easier in the hands of a Minister who can put his own case to the Commons.”

TOMORROW’S EVENT MANSION HOUSE SPEECH. REFERENCE TO RESIGNATIONS POSSIBLE. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) RUGBY, January 7. The Prime Minister’s speech at Mansion House on Tuesday afternnoon is regarded here as an event of considerable moment. Not only will this meeting be the first of a series of national gatherings to be addressed by War Cabinet members, but it will be the first public meeting addressed by Mr Chamberlain since the outbreak of war. The Prime Minister, who it is expected will speak for three-quarters of an hour, will, it is anticipated, undertake a general review of the progress and of prospects of the war, demonstrating the complete unity and determination of the whole nation to carry through the war to a victorious conclusion. It is also possible that Mr Chamberlain may refer to the recent Ministerial changes.